LOOKING AHEAD
Patriots (6-5) at Steelers (7-5): 1 p.m, Dec. 6, Three Rivers Stadium. TV: KDKA. Both teams will be playing with loads on the line, looking for playoff berths, and both will be more than a little familiar with each other. They met twice last season, with the Steelers winning both times, 24-21 in the next-to-last game of the regular season, and 7-6 in the first round of playoffs.
WHO'S HURTING
Courtney Hawkins, Steelers WR, who grew up just north of the Silverdome in Flint, left the game in the first half with leg cramps, but returned in the third quarter.
NEWS & NOTES
Why not a TD? The Steelers had a chance to win the game in the final seconds of regulation, but opted for a FG. Trailing by three, they had a third-and-4 at the Lions' 10. Instead of throwing, they came out in their regular offense with two wide receivers and two backs. Kordell Stewart gave the ball to Jerome Bettis off left guard. He gained 3 yards, inches short of a first down. Norm Johnson then came out and kicked a 25-yard FG with two seconds left to tie it. Cowher admitted that his prime purpose was to make sure he got the FG, which is why he ran Bettis on third down in what would have been a passing situation. A first-down pass into the end zone in which CB Bryant Westbrook almost intercepted caused Cowher to think twice about throwing again. "The first one we threw in there was a little scary," said Cowher. "The one thing I definitely wanted to come out of there with was a field goal."
A roar from Moore: Lions WR Herman Moore, who did not play last Sunday because of a groin pull, caught eight passes for 148 yards, including his team's only TD and the big one in overtime that put them in position to win it. Most of those passes came over CB Carnell Lake, and six of them for 128 yards came in the second half. "They got some big plays, especially on my side," Lake said. "Herman Moore caught some post routes." Moore was in the midst of one of his worst NFL seasons until coming upon the Steelers. It was the first time this season he had more than 100 receiving yards and the first time since the season opener than he caught a TD. "It was nice to have balls thrown downfield. Charlie did a great job of locating me," Moore said of Lions QB Charlie Batch. "It just feel good offensively to see us continue the rhythm we developed last week."
Another 200 for Slash: For the fifth consecutive time, QB Kordell Stewart topped 200 yards passing after not reaching that mark in his first seven games. But Stewart was far from impressive. He completed 21 of 36 passes for 225 yards, one touchdown and one interception, his first in four games. He was sacked five times, equaling his season high. He threw another interception that was wrongly canceled by the officials. He lost a fumble the officials also wrongly changed because they said he was down before the ball popped out. Referee Phil Luckett explained that "nobody got a clear shot of it" on the interception that bounced off Courtney Hawkins and not off the ground as was ruled. Luckett also admitted that they were not sure on the fumble so that "when in question, the runner is down when you're not sure." Stewart fumbled another snap in the shotgun formation from the Lions' 33 that lost 25 yards and took the Steelers out of another scoring opportunity.
Barry not so scary: There were several major landmarks for Barry Sanders yesterday, but the Detroit Lions great tailback might have been a little embarrassed by any attention on his performance. Sanders became the second player in NFL history to rush for more than 15,000 yards and the third to gain over 18,000 total yards. But it was hardly a memorable occasion. Sanders was held to 33 yards in 20 attempts. So outstanding was the Steelers' defense that it was an accomplishment for Sanders to get back to the line of scrimmage. He gained only 33 yards on 20 carries. On eight of his carries, he was thrown for negative yardage. On five others, he had 1 or no yards. So it didn't figure to be of great consolation to Sanders that with 15,003 rushing yards, he trails only Walter Payton, who has 16,726 and with 18,026 total yards, he trails only Payton, (21,803) and Hershcel Walker (18,168).
Another great grab for CJ: WR Charles Johnson, who made a one-handed catch over the middle last Sunday to help the Steelers beat Jacksonville, made another along the left sideline yesterday that traveled 30 yards and dug his team out of a hole. On second down at the 18, Stewart threw to CJ, who was mugged by CB Terry Fair but somehow got one hand on the ball, brought it in and reached around Fair's back with his other hand to catch it. Fair was flagged for a pass interference penalty, but the Steelers' took the catch and a first down at the 48. Three plays later, though, Stewart was intercepted by linebacker Rob Frederickson.
HE SAID IT
Lee Flowers, Steelers S, on his team having blown three games in the fourth quarter this season - at Cincinnati, Tennessee and Detroit: "I hear guys in here talking about the coin toss. I don't know what's going on with that, but we need to know how to put a team away. It never should have gotten to that in the first place."
Ron Rice, Lions S, on the Detroit defense, which held Kordell Stewart to four rushes for 22 yards: "We slowed down The Bus. That was our No. 1 goal. We forced Kordell Stewart to make a couple of throws he didn't want to throw. We wanted Kordell to say in the pocket and pass the ball. He's such an athlete, we didn't want him to have a 70-yard or a 50-yard run for a touchdown and I think we did a pretty good job of doing that."
NUMBERS
Low point: Only one other time in Coach Bill Cowher's seven seasons as their coach have the Steelers had so few victories 12 games into the season. They also were 7-5 in 1993, the only time under Cowher they did not win the division title. They made the playoffs as a wildcard team and were eliminated in the first round at Kansas City.
Extra time: The Steelers won all three overtime games they played last season, and lost for the first time in overtime since Oct. 30, 1994 in Arizona, 20-17.
No holiday: The Steelers have played Detroit twice on Thanksgiving, losing both times. They also lost their only trip to Dallas on Thanksgiving, losing, 20-10, in 1993.
FOURTH-AND-SHORT
Any league follow-up? To determine the opening kickoff, Jerome Bettis said he called tails and won, which is why he said he called tails again to start the overtime.
"I won," he said, "but I lost."
Bettis said the call was the topper to a bizarre game that "will go down in my book as probably the weirdest game I've ever been involved with."
He wondered what will happen next.
"It'll be interesting to see what the league's stance is on this one. Will they say something's wrong or try to brush it under the carpet? Whenever you make that kind of call, it leaves a lot of question marks."
